{dust is settling}

Now that the dust has settled (literally) I thought I'd upload some pictures from our recent trek across New York State. Every moment was planned, so I apologize to our many friends in NY that we didn't get to see... Lynn, Laura, Steph, etc, etc....

This year we added a detour to the Poconos to meet up with Aldine and crew. They rent a house there for a week each summer and we spent two nights with them. We all had a great time swimming in the lake (not Aldine, though... too many fish....) and the pool and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. The house was great -- once the kids went to bed the grown-ups could hang out (if we had any energy left). Here are some of the highlights from the Poconos:

From the Poconos we headed up to Nani and Poppy's. Randy, Joann, Lauren and Jenny all came to see us, so that was a nice treat. Aunt Sada even came from Boston for a day. Morgan instantly felt comfortable with Nani and you could just see the love in her eyes. Here they are dancing:

From there we went to Grandma and Grandpa's new apartment. It's very cute and it looks just like their old house -- lots of bright colors -- only smaller and cozier. I think they're both enjoying it and I think Ma loves the fact that she doesn't have 4 bathrooms to clean!

By the time we got to Buffalo, though, I was so tired I barely remembered to take out my camera. Here are the few pictures I did take:

And to go back even farther, here are some pictures from before our vacation:

Gerard's last tee-ball game

Morgan's new kitchen (from Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday):

{what? what? what?}

Ever wonder what it sounds like inside a jet engine? You should've come to our house these past few days to find out. We had 7 industrial fans -- in our bedroom, living room and basement. You just couldn't escape the noise. Luckily it was nice outside, so we were able to go out. Unfortunately, our neighbors were cutting down trees and chipping them up yesterday, so there was LITERALLY no place to go for quiet. Luckily, the water removal people took all but one fan away yesterday. The living room and basement are dry. They'll be back this week to remove the rest of our bedroom ceiling and some of the walls. The contractors should be here on Monday to give us some estimates for the insurance company and some guess as to when we can have our bedroom back. I've been sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen and Gerard was sleeping in the couch in the living room. Last night I slept on the futon in the basement, which was a nice treat.

My bed, put away in the dining room for the day

On a happier note, we went to the Fourth of July parade with Maddie and Abby and crew on Friday.

This is Maddie's grandpa holding Morgan:

And Gerard bought Gerard underoos. Remember those?

I'm off to make lunch.... I'll post pictures from our vacation (which seems like AGES ago now) later today or tomorrow.